




^f*^ 





Class 

Book Jib 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Vegetable Gardening 

and Canning 

A MANUAL FOR GARDEN CLUBS 



BY 

ARETAS W. NOLAN 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION, 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

AND 

JAMES H. GREENE 

* 

STATE LEADER, JUNIOR EXTENSION SERVICE, 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 




CHICAGO NEW YORK 

ROW, PETERSON AND COMPANY 



,iste 



Copyright, 1917 
ROW, PETERSON 
AND COMPANY 




JUL 30 1917 
CI.A470490 



INTRODUCTION 

To the Pupils 

If there has ever been need for garden clubs, indi- 
vidual gardens, and gardens of every sort, it is now 
when the cost of produce of all kinds has soared almost 
out of our reach, not only because of its scarcity, but 
because of the increased demand abroad as well. There 
is not space here to tell you why this is so, but the fact 
remains that if we would do ourselves, bur families, 
our communities, and our nation one of the greatest 
possible services, we will find some plot available for 
gardening and then do our best to win from it what 
people call a bumper crop. / 

If I were to ask you what are some of the material, 
or practical advantages of gardening, you would say 
the food obtained, the healthfulness of outdoor work, 
and the financial returns from that portion of the crop 
which was marketed. Your answer would be only par- 
tially correct. That is to say, you are right as far as 
you go, but you do not go far enough. There are sev- 
eral other things which the gardener gets along with 
his hardening muscles, fresh vegetables, and increasing 
bank account. I shall not anticipate by telling them 
all for I want you to find them for yourselves, but one 
is the satisfaction that comes from seeing things de- 
velop under one 's care ; another is the acquaintance 
you form with plants, and the knowledge you acquire 
regarding their peculiarities of growth, their likes and 

3 



4 INTRODUCTION 

dislikes as to food and care ; still another is the quick- 
ening of your powers of observation. These are the 
gains from garden work that will remain to enrich 
your lives long after the vegetables are eaten, or sold, 
and the money is spent which you made by marketing 
your crops. 

In club gardening still other advantages are gained, 
the most important of which is undoubtedly the ability 
to do team work. Some of us who can do very good 
work alone, have never learned to puU together. The 
garden club cannot be a complete success unless its 
members are willing to join hands in an effort to make 
theirs the best gardens in the country. If this spirit 
prevails throughout all the garden ventures, then there 
will be a great number of successful gardens. But if by 
some strange mischance no crop at all should result, the 
fact that you had learned to work together would be a 
fine reward to you. What I mean is this : aside from the 
great value of the crop which your gardens will produce, 
is that equally great moral value, which some of us do 
not yet realize, of having learned to pull together. 

With all these advantages in prospect, you must not 
forget this certain principle that here as elsewhere one 
does not "get something for nothing." Whether it is 
the crop of vegetables, the bank account, or the moral 
and physical training (or all combined), which you are 
after, there must be work and plenty of it to insure 
worth-while returns. But it must be intelligent effort, 
not haphazard manual labor, for physical labor that 
is not directed by mental effort will be disappointing 
to all concerned. One can work, and work hard, and 
yet deserve no particular credit and win no worthy 
reward, if he has worked blindly and without fixing 
upon his goal before he started for it. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

Suppose a man desired to drive from Chicago to St. 
Louis, he would assuredly not start without ascertain- 
ing at least in which direction St. Louis lies, or better 
still, he would get a road map, or failing in that he 
would consult some one who had previously made the 
trip. Yet there are many people who, having a piece 
of ground which might make a profitable garden, will 
cultivate it carelessly, put the seeds in without refer- 
ence to the best results to be obtained, and then think 
that the few radishes, cabbages, or other vegetables 
which luck lets them harvest, are all there is to gar- 
dening, and that "it doesn't pay." 

Some one in writing of gardens not long ago said, 
"One must work the soil with brains as well as brawn." 
This is why I have just reminded you that intelligent 
planning must go hand in hand with manual endeavor. 
If this is so, after the garden club is organized, and it 
wants to know "What next?", the answer should be, 
"A suitable plot, a workable plan, good tools, and lots 
of muscle. ' ' 

One may garden for pleasure, or for profit, but the 
garden club seems to make it possible to secure both 
results. 

"The best thing school gardening does for young people is to 
help prepare them for their larger life in the world." — D. 
Williams. 

J. C. Blair 

Head of Department of Horticulture, 

University of Illinois 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Part One. Garden Project Calendar 7 

Part Two. Practical Exercises 18 

1. The Garden Plans 18 

2. Laying Out and Planting the School Garden 18 

3. Cold Frames and Hot-Beds 20 

4. Cultural Requirements of Vegetables 21 

5. Making a Canner 23 

6. Canning Corn and Peaches 24 

7. A Canning Demonstration 26 

8. A Canning Contest 29 

9. Census of Food Preservation 30 

10. Outline for Studying Vegetables 31 

Part Three. Vegetable Gardening 33 

Locating the Home Gar- Garden Pests 46 

den 33 Diseases 49 

Preparation of the Soil. . 33 Preparing Market Products 49 

The Seed Bed 34 Arranging An Exhibit 52 

Fertilizing the Garden ... 34 Saving Perishable Foods ... 53 

Laying Out the Garden. . 36 Why Foods Spoil 54 

Selecting Varieties and Bacteria Like People ...... 54 

Seed 37 Protection of Food 55 

Early and Late Plants.. 37 Bacteria a Menace 55 

Planting Table 38 What Are Ptomaines? 56 

Seed Sowing \ 41 Keeping Foods Cool 57 

The Hot-Bed 41 Canning a Safe Method. . . 57 

Successful Transplanting. 41 Open Kettle Process 58 

Thinning Vegetables 44 Intermittent Method 58 

Cultivation 45 Cold Water Method 58 

Garden Tools 45 Cold Pack Method 58 

Appendix 61 

A Model Constitution and By-Laws 61 

Parliamentary Practice: Hints and Suggestions 62 

Garden Rules 64 

Recommendations Concerning Companion and Succession 

Crops for the Home Garden 64 

List of Home Gardening- Publications 65 

Student's Notebook 67 

6 



PART ONE 

GARDEN PROJECT CALENDAR 
January 

1. Organization of the garden club. (See plans in 
the appendix.) The class in agriculture probably will 
not find it practical to organize the garden club project 
until this month. Each member of the class should be- 
come a member of the garden club and plan to do all 
the work outlined for the project. The plan should 
receive the hearty cooperation of the pupils, teacher, 
parents, and board of education. The state club leader 
at the State College of Agriculture should be notified 
of the organization of the club so that he can send 
enrollment blanks and all such literature and publica- 
tions as will be helpful in the progress of the work. 

2. Selecting the garden. The first thing each pupil 
should do after the organization ol the club is to select 
the ground upon which he is to grow his garden the 
coming season. A garden plot not less than ten by 
thirty feet should be chosen for this project. A good, 
well drained, sandy loam, fertile soil with a sunny ex- 
posure should be chosen for the garden. 

3. Fertilizing the garden. If the garden spot has 
not already been manured or otherwise fertilized, this 
matter may be attended to now. Well rotted farm 
manure at the rate of ten tons or more per acre should 
be applied upon the plot, to be plowed under as soon 
as the ground is dried out in the spring. 

7 



8 GARDEN PROJECT 

4. Notebook work. Each pupil should keep a neat 
and accurate record of all operations, results and ac- 
counts on the record pages provided at the end of this 
book, so that when the project is completed the pupil 
will have an agricultural booklet he will be proud to 
exhibit. Throughout the notebook work, pictures from 
catalogs and farm papers may be pasted in or sketched 
as the tastes and abilities of the pupil incline. Sug- 
gestions for the notebook work will be made in this 
calendar. 

5. Clippings and pictures. Begin making clippings 
from farm papers, catalogs, and other available sources 
of pictures and of interesting garden articles for later 
use in your notebook and class-room work. 

February 

1. Make a plan of the garden. On the page of your 
agricultural notebook set apart for that purpose draw 
a neat, careful plan of your garden plot. Draw it to 
scale. Indicate the rows of vegetables you expect to 
plant by dotted lines for first plantings and full lines 
for later plantings. Make your drawing plan show 
distance of rows apart and distances of plants in the 
rows. 

2. Catalog studies. Send for seed catalogs and 
study them as to prices and varieties of vegetables. 
Decide upon the vegetables and the varieties you are 
going to plant. List these in your notebook. Later 
in the month, if you plan to send to a seed house, you 
should make out your order so as to get the seeds in 
plenty of time. It is nearly always possible to get 
good seeds of a local dealer. Use only standard varie- 
ties adapted to the locality. 



GARDEN PROJECT CALENDAR 9 

3. Seed testing. Make tests of small seeds. Study 
the per cent of germination. See practical exercises 
for details. 

4. Garden implements. Study garden implement 
catalogs. Learn to identify garden implements and 
to know their uses. List the implements you have at 
home for garden work. Go over your home imple- 
ments, clean, oil, and sharpen them up for the spring 
work. 

5. The signboard. Each member of the class should 
make and letter a signboard to be placed in the garden 
or at some place on the home grounds where it may be 
seen if the garden is not by a road or street. This sign- 
board should be 12 by 18 inches, planed on one side. 
It should bear the name of the local club preceded by 
the word "Member," as — 



Member 

Home City 

Garden Club 



The lettering may be done by means of a stencil cut 
from cardboard. The letters may be cut from adver- 
tisements or made by some member of the class. 
These are then laid on the cardboard, their outline 
drawn with a pencil, and the letters cut out. The sign- 
board may then be painted white, and the letters black. 

March 

1. Make a hot-bed. See details of construction 
given in the practical exercises. Every pupil carrying 
on a garden project should make and care for a hot- 



10 GARDEN PROJECT 

bed, in order to get the experience as well as the prac- 
tical returns in early seedlings. 















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1. A Hot-Bed at School 

2. Flats. Construct "flats" 3x16x22 inches, and 
fill them with prepared sandy loam soil. At least two 
flats for each pupil should be made. Sow seeds of 
head lettuce and cabbage in one and celery seed in the 
other. Keep these flats moistened and in a warm room 
until ready for the transplanting of the seedlings. 

3. Plowing the garden. If the weather permits 
and the ground is dried out sufficiently, the garden 
plot may be spaded up or plowed this month. If the 
manure has not already been applied as suggested for 
January, well rotted farm manure should be spread 
before plowing. If the soil is a stiff clay, it may be 
improved by the addition of sand. Plow deeply, cov- 
ering all crop residue and manure. 

4. Testing for soil acidity. Apply strips of blue 
litmus paper to moistened lumps of the garden soil. 
If the paper turns pink or red, the soil is sour and 
needs lime. Apply over the plowed surface air-slacked 
lime at the rate of a ton per acre. 

"5. Seed bed preparation. After plowing the ground, 



GARDEN PROJECT CALENDAR 11 

it should be harrowed and re-harrowed until the soil 
is crumbled into as fine a seed bed as it is possible to 
make. Bone meal at the rate of 300 pounds per acre 
may be sown broadcast over the ground as a fertilizer, 
and be harrowed into the soil. 

6. Preparation for planting. Mark on 2 the rows ac- 
cording to the plan of seeding shown on your garden 
plan, and prepare to plant the seeds of some of the 
earlier vegetables. . (See planting table given under 
the discussion.) 

April 

1. Planting. If a rain should beat down the plowed 
soil of the garden before planting can be done, the 
ground should be thoroughly harrowed again, and put 
in good "onion tilth" before seeding. For middle lati- 
tudes, during this month, plant onion sets, radishes, 
spinach, lettuce, peas, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, 
potatoes, and early sweet corn. See directions in dis- 
cussions and tables given later for details of planting 
vegetables. Directions are also given on seed packages 
purchased. Firm the earth well over all seeds planted. 
Record every operation done under the proper heading 
in the notebook. 

2. Transplanting. Transplant cabbages and head 
lettuce from flats to the garden. Shift tomatoes from 
hot-bed to cold frame. Shift celery seedlings to small 
flats 2x2 inches. These flats may be placed in cold 
frames. 

3. Cultivation. Cultivate with a wheel hoe and 
hand hoe all crops that have come up. Keep the un- 
planted portion of the garden harrowed. 

4. Flowers. It would be well to sow seeds of some 
annual flowers about the borders of the garden, such 



12 



GARDEN PROJECT 



as petunias, four-o 'clocks, cosmos, dwarf sunflowers, 
zinnias, etc. 

May 

1. Care and cultivation. Real work begins in the 
garden now. Pests will come and weeds will grow. 
The first thing that needs attention after seeding will 
be the weeds. It may be necessary to pull many weeds 
by hand, but whether by hand or hoe, the weeds must 
go. A loose, shallow soil mulch should be maintained 
at all times. The best tool for cultivation is a wheel 
hoe. It will usually be necessary to use the common 
hand hoe to put on the finishing touches. As soon after 
a rain as the ground is pliable and mellow the soil 
mulch should be provided. 




2. A Garden Club 



2. Planting. Plant beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, 
melons, squash and pumpkin. Follow directions given 
in planting tables, as to varieties and methods of 
planting. 

3. Transplanting. Transplant cabbage, tomatoes, 



GARDEN PROJECT CALENDAR 



13 



and celery to the garden rows. Bed sweet potatoes 
for slips in the hot-bed. 

4. Thinning. Where some of the plants are grow- 
ing too thickly, it will be necessary to thin them out. 
Thin and weed onions, beets, carrots, parsnips, etc. 

5. Harvesting. Harvest radishes, leaf lettuce, 
bunch onions, spinach, and peas. 

6. Bookkeeping. Do not fail to record all garden 
business and work under the proper headings in your 
notebook. 




3. A Man's Job 



June and July 



1. Cultivation. See directions under (1) given for 
May. 

2. Insect pests. Combating insect pests will be an 
early problem. 

(a) The striped melon beetle will attack the melons 
and cucumbers as soon as they appear. If there are 
only a few hills, it is practical to protect them by 



14 GARDEN PROJECT 

covering with small screen-covered bottomless boxes. 
Tobacco dust, lime, etc., are repellents often success- 
fully used. 

(b) Large insects such as tomato worms, squash 
bugs, and various caterpillars may be picked off by 
hand and killed. 

(c) For small leaf -eating insects, such as the cab- 
bage worm, potato-bug, etc., a solution of lead arsenate 
(about a teaspoonful to a gallon of water) sprayed 
upon the plants is effective. 

(d) Plant lice may be combated with Tobacco Con- 
coction or " Black Leaf 40." 

(e) Ordinary blights and rots of garden vegetables 
are controlled by Bordeaux Mixture. 

3. Special care. Some of the plants of the garden 
will need special handling as the season advances. 
Tomatoes may be tied up to stakes; beans and peas, 
if of the pole variety, will need supports; celery will 
need blanching devices, etc. See directions for special 
treatment of such vegetables in the chapter discussions. 

4. Harvesting. Continue harvesting as suggested 
in May. Harvest head lettuce, bunch onions, peas, etc. 
Follow directions given in the chapter on putting up 
an attractive vegetable pack for the market. 

5. Succession cropping. To utilize the garden in- 
tensively, such crops as peas, radishes, lettuce, turnips, 
etc., maturing early, should be removed and followed 
by a succession crop of the same or another vegetable 
as the demands of the home or market require. 

6. Late planting. Plant sweet potatoes, late sweet 
corn, turnips, beans, late cabbage, etc., as succession 
crops. 



GARDEN PROJECT CALENDAR 15 

August 

1. Care and cultivation. Continue the care and 
cultivation as suggested for the other summer months. 
The season may become dry and hot, but proper care 
and cultivation may often win out against these odds. 
Do not allow any weeds to go to seed. 

2. Late planting. Late plantings of beans, beets, 
sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots and mustard may be 
feasible in some seasons at this time, even in middle 
latitudes. 

3. Harvesting. Continue the harvesting of garden 
crops maturing this month. Study and practice good 
methods of grading, bunching, packing, basketing, and 
otherwise marketing the garden vegetables you have 
for sale. 

4. Canning. (See special calendar for this work.) 

5. Visiting. Visit home and truck gardens to com- 
pare crops, methods, etc., with those of your own. 

September and Other Autumn Months 

1. Visiting gardens. Visit home and truck gardens 
if possible to observe and study how the fall crops are 
handled. Get definite ideas of the yields of the various 
crops and of the prices and costs of production. 

2. Visiting markets. Visit the city markets and 
note the assortment of vegetables, prices, packages, 
and where they were grown. Make written reports of 
these observations in your notebook. 

3. Finishing work. Finish marketing, canning and 
storing all vegetables from your garden. Allow nothing 
to go to waste. 

4. Fairs. If there is to be a local fair or exhibit 



16 GARDEN PROJECT 

for garden club members, each pupil should prepare 
under the direction of the club leader an exhibit of 
canned goods or other produce from the garden for 
the fair. Members of the club should visit a county 
or state fair if possible, and report on a few pages of 
their notebooks such observations on the vegetable 
exhibits, under types, kinds, and principal characteris- 
tics by which vegetables were judged and other inter- 
esting notes so as to show an appreciation of what was 
seen. 

5. Cleaning* up. Remove all coarse refuse from the 
previous garden crops, and apply manure to the garden 
site, to be plowed under either this fall or next spring 
in preparation for the next season's garden work. 

Canning Club Calendar 

March 

Canning demonstration by club leader or extension 
worker. Methods of food preservation. What causes 
food to spoil: (a) molds, (b) yeasts, (c) bacteria. Ob- 
ject of canning. Methods of canning. (NR series of 
U. S. Dept. of Agr. canning bulletins.) 

April and May 

Advantages of cold pack method. Construct a home- 
made canner. Canning of early vegetables and fruits 
and use in diet. Examples : spring greens, asparagus, 
rhubarb. 

June 

Canning of vegetables and fruits. Examples : peas, 
early string beans, strawberries, cherries. Advan- 



GARDEN PROJECT CALENDAR 17 

tages of canning fruits and vegetables at proper stage 
of maturity and as soon after picking as possible. 

July 

Canning vegetables and fruits. Examples: wax 
beans, raspberries, currants, blueberries, blackberries, 
gooseberries. Club picnic or play festival. Study of 
reports. Cost of canning different products and com- 
parison with prices of commercial products. 

August 

Canning of vegetables and fruits. Examples : green 
corn, tomatoes, peaches, apricots, plums, apples. 

September 

Preparation for exhibit. Study of containers, local 
markets. Public canning demonstration or contest. 
Canning of vegetables and fruits. Examples : young 
carrots, beets, corn, tomatoes, grapes, peaches, pears, 
apples. 

October 

Study of other methods of food preservation. Stor- 
age. Use of canned products. Uses of fruits and green 
vegetables in the diet. 

November 
Final reports and stories. 



PART TWO 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES 

1. The garden plans, (a) Let each pupil carefully 
draw to scale the plan of the vegetable garden as it is 
laid out at his home. 

(b) After this study let each pupil draw a garden 
plan as he would carry it out in a home garden of 
his own. 

(c) If it is feasible to have a school garden, let each 
member of the class draw a plan of such a garden. 

2. Laying out and planting the school garden. If 
conditions at the school are favorable to the employ- 
ment of labor all through the garden season and if 
sufficient land is near the school to justify such an 
undertaking, it may be advisable to carry on a school 
garden. For a school garden the plan of making a 
demonstration home garden for an average-sized family 
is a good one. This plot should be planted and 
cared for as a class enterprise. The addition of small 
fruits and ornamental planting may make the whole 
scheme a valuable practical piece of work in connec- 
tion with the school study of vegetable gardening. 
This garden should be carried on as nearly according 
to directions and correct principles which are given 
in the text as is possible. For individual work in 
vegetable raising, the home project garden should 
be used. 

18 



PRACTICAL EXERCISES 



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GARDEN PROJECT 



3. Cold frames and hot-beds. Since work with cold 
frames and hot-beds comes during the school season, 
it is by all means advisable to undertake this practical 
exercise at school. 

(a) Cold frames are devices for growing plants early 
or hardening them off for the field by making use of 
the heat of the sun through glass, without any founda- 
tion heating. They regulate heat and moisture and 
protect plants from heavy wind and dashing rain. 

The standard size of the cold frame sash is three 
by six feet, and the length of the cold frame will 
depend upon the number of sashes to be used. Make 
the frame six feet wide, eight inches high in front and 
twelve inches high at the back, of either one-inch or 
two-inch lumber. A lean-to cold frame on the outside 




5. A Cold Feame 



of a building may be made by nailing a two-by-four 
piece of lumber against the building and constructing 
the frame upon it. Good garden soil will furnish 
the seed bed for the plants to be grown in the cold 
frame. 

(b) For a permanent hot-bed, a pit about two 



PRACTICAL EXERCISES 21 

feet in depth is dug. If it is desirable to make one 
so large, the length may be six or nine feet, with a 
width of three feet — the length of a window sash to 
be used over it. The sides and ends of the pit are 
supported by a lining of plank held by corner posts. 
The plank frame should extend above the surface of 
the ground eight inches at the front and twelve inches 
at the back. The hot-bed is heated by horse manure, 
containing straw bedding or one-third leaves. Pre- 
pare the manure by stacking it in a compost heap, 
turning it over every three or four days, and restack- 
ing. After three or four days more, mix it carefully 
and spread it evenly in the hot-bed pit, about fifteen 
inches deep. Tramp down firmly. Scatter four or five 
inches of good garden loam over the manure in the 
hot-bed. Make frames for the sash, place them over 
the hot-bed and allow the bed to heat up. Do not 
plant any seeds in it until the temperature subsides 
to at least 90 degrees. 

Early lettuce, radishes, cabbages, tomatoes, egg* 
plants and other vegetables may be sown thickly in 
rows four or six inches apart in the hot-bed, and under 
proper care by the time warm weather comes the 
school will have plants from its own garden with which 
to supply the club or neighborhood. 

In addition to the sash, mats of carpet will be needed 
on cold nights. During bright days, it may be neces- 
sary to lift the sash a little to allow the hot air to 
escape and give ventilation. Hot-beds should be 
watered in the morning on bright days. 

Draw a plan of the hot-bed and keep a notebook 
record of the work done. 

4. Cultural requirements of vegetables. Place in 
the notebook the following table and fill out the cul- 



22 



GARDEN PROJECT 







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PRACTICAL EXERCISES 23 

tural requirements of the standard garden vegetables 
grown. 

Soil Season Care 

Vegetables Requirements Requirements Requirements 



5. Making a canner. A wash boiler, a fifty-pound 
lard tin or similar vessel with a lid may be used for a 
"cold pack" canner. All else that is necessary is a 
false bottom or rack platform which will lift the glass 
jars from the bottom and permit the circulation of the 
water under and around the jars. 

In order to make a rack secure some strips of wood 
one-half inch by one inch or one inch square. Make a 
lattice-work platform that will fit in the improvised 
canner, with open spaces between the strips of such 
size that two fingers may be inserted. This may be 
done by determining the approximate length of the 
several pieces, nailing them together, and then by 
placing the lid or bottom of the canner on the platform, 
marking the outline of the bottom. Saw off the ends 
of the strips about one-half inch back of the mark. 
This will make it easy to get the platform in and out 
of the canner. Secure a piece of telephone wire of 
such length that two loops of wire for handles may 
be twisted around the platform, extending to the top 
of the canner. A third piece of wire may be twisted 
around these loops parallel to the platform at such a 
height as to act as a guard rail and prevent the glass 
jars from sliding off when a load is lifted in or out of 
the canner. 



24 



GARDEN PROJECT 



6. Canning corn and peaches. This exercise is given * 
in order to outline the method and procedure of the 
cold pack process. For recipes for canning other prod- 
ucts, see the NR Series listed under Exercise 7. 



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7. A Home-Made Canner 



(a) Corn. Corn should be canned when it is in the 
milk. Can as soon after gathering as possible, at least 
the same day. If it is necessary to keep it for a short 
time spread the ears out in a cool place. 

Boil water for the canner in a teakettle and a gallon 
or two-gallon stew kettle. The amount of water to be 
heated will depend upon the amount of corn to be 
canned. Fuel and time may be economized by not 
filling the canner more than one-third full. Later the 
water used for blanching and that left in the teakettle 
may be poured in. 

While waiting for the water to boil remove the 
husks, silks and shanks of the ears. When the water 



PRACTICAL EXERCISES 25 

in the stew kettle is boiling (boiling water is jumping), 
place a half dozen ears in a square of cheese cloth or 
muslin and tie the opposite corners. Immerse in the 
kettle for from five to fifteen minutes. Remove and 
plunge into cold water. Remove and cut from the cob. 
This is best done by placing the ear, butt down, in a 
shallow pan or dish, cutting down with a sharp, thin 
knife and scraping up. 

The corn is then packed in the glass jars or tin cans 
to within a quarter of an inch of the top. A teaspoon- 
ful of salt and one of sugar per quart and boiling water 
to fill up the jar, are added. 

Tin cans are sealed completely. Good rubbers and 
tops are placed on the glass jars, but they are twt 
sealed completely. Mason jar tops are screwed down 
tight and then turned back a quarter turn. Glass tops 
with a wire bale are placed in position but the tighten- 
ing lever is not pulled down. Economy jar lids and 
metal bales are placed in position. 

The products are now ready for the canner. For 
most products it is all right to wait until the rack is 
full and then to place the entire lot in the canner at 
one time. Corn, however, should be put into the boil- 
ing water as soon as it is packed in the jars. The first 
few jars will not be completely immersed but by the 
time the canner is filled the water may be the required 
inch over the top of the jars. If not, the bleaching 
water and that left in the teakettle may be poured in, 
as has been suggested. If the water is boiling, there 
will be no danger of the blanching water getting into 
the jars as inspection will show bubbles coming out. 
The lid should then be placed on the canner and the 
boiling continued for three hours in the case of quarts 
and one-tenth less time in the case of pints. At the 



26 GARDEN PROJECT 

expiration of this time, the jars are removed and the 
lids tightened. If it is found that a rubber has been 
blown out of place it should not be pushed back but 
removed and a new one substituted. The jar should 
then be put back in the canner and sterilized for an- 
other five minute period. 

Corn on the cob may be canned by the same method 
by using w r ide mouthed jars. This is not an economical 
method of food preservation, however. All jars and 
tops should be carefully inspected before use. 

Be sure that Mason jar tops are smooth and touch 
the rubber at all points. This may be determined by 
screwing down the lid, without the rubber, and trying 
to insert the thumb nail at different points. Be sure, 
too, that the wire bale of glass topped jars comes into 
place in the slot with a click. Defect may be remedied 
by bending the wire in. 

(b) Peaches. The canning of peaches differs from 
that of corn in three respects: (1) The peaches are 
"hot-dipped" about one-half minute. (2) Syrup* 
instead of water is poured over them. (3) Peaches 
are sterilized in the hot-water canner for sixteen min- 
utes only. 

7. A canning demonstration. The class should give 
a public canning demonstration. Parents, patrons and 
friends may be invited. It will add greatly to the 
appearance of this demonstration if the members of 
the demonstration team are attired in white aprons 
and caps, bearing the official club insignia. Directions 
for making these are given in* a bulletin listed in the 



*If sugar is high, fruit may be put up in water. For directions 
for making syrup see NR-21, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Canning Leaflets. 



PRACTICAL EXERCISES 27 

references. The following equipment and material will 
be needed: 

1 Good Stove — This is most important — 3 burner, gas, gasoline, 

or kerosene. If a gasoline stove, be sure that the gasoline line 
has no leaks; trim carefully the wicks of a kerosene stove. 
A convenient supply of clean, pure water. 

2 long tables. 

2 yards cheese cloth or muslin for blanching. 
4 or 5 tea towels. 

1 teakettle. 

2 water pails. 

1 garbage pail. 

2 stew kettles with lids. 

1 small stew pan with handle (for making syrup). 

3 large spoons. 

2 forks. 

3 paring knives. 
2 dish pans. 

1 metal cup. 

1 dozen pint jars (glass) — any style — it will be' more instructive 

to have several kinds. 

2 dozen rubbers — best quality. 
Sugar. 

Salt. 
1 or more kinds of vegetables. 
1 or more kinds of greens. 
1 or more kinds of fruits. 

Suggestions 

1. Have chairs enough for the audience. 

2. The demonstrator requires the services of two 
women. 

3. He will plan to use boys and girls, when possible, 
in preparing products. 

4. Thoroughly test stoves and have hot Avater ready 
when demonstrator arrives. This will save time. 

5. Do not provide too large quantities of materials 
to be canned. 



28 GARDEN PROJECT 

6. Be sure perishable products are fresh. 

7. The question of time at the disposal of the dem- 
onstrator will determine the kind and quantities of 
materials to be canned. Vegetables like corn, peas, and 
beans require three hours in the home-made canner; 
root and tuber vegetables and greens require ninety 
minutes; fruits, ten to twenty minutes. 

In giving the demonstration, the following points 
should be explained. Information may be obtained 
from this booklet and from the references given below. 
Such explanations may be given while waiting for 
different steps in the process to be finished. A good 
demonstrator works and talks at the same time. 

1. Why Foods Spoil. 

2. Methods of Food Preservation. 

3. Methods of Canning. 

4. Types of Canning Equipment. 

5. The Cold Pack Process. 

(a) Blanching, scalding and cold-dipping. 

(b) Packing in containers. 

(c) Making syrup. 

(d) Jars and rubbers. 

(e) Sterilization. 

Pertinent facts, recipes and steps in the process may 
be placed on the blackboard to aid in the work, or 
cloth or paper charts may be made by the class. 

References 

McConn — Yeasts, Molds and Bacteria. 

U. S. Department of Agriculture. NR Series of Canning Leaflets.* 



*These may be obtained free from your state club leader or the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



PRACTICAL EXERCISES 29 

NR-21 — Home Canning Instructions — Methods and Devices. 

NR-24 — Home Canning Instructions. 

NR-25 — Additional Recipes. 

NR-30 — Canning Apples. 

S-6 — Home Canning Club Aprons and Caps. 

8. A canning 1 contest. This may be held in connec- 
tion with a school exhibit, fair or agricultural short 
course. Contests may be held between neighboring 
school clubs at a county fair, a farmers' institute or 
similar gatherings. 

Rules for Contest 

1. Teams must consist of five members. 

2. Entries limited to five teams. 

3. Each team to demonstrate the canning of one 
fruit and one vegetable : 

Fruit — 1 quart of apples (or other fruit selected by 
committee). 

Vegetables — 1 quart tomatoes (or other vegetables 
selected by committee). 

Basis of Award 

Time required 40 

Quality of product 40 

Skill 20 



Total 100 

(The canned products will remain the property of 
the committee.) 

4. Each team must supply the following equipment 
for the contest : 



30 GARDEN PROJECT 

1 can or covered pail, lard can, or wash boiler, with false bottom. 

2 tablespoons, 1 teaspoon, 1 long-handled spoon. 
1 jar funnel. 

1 measuring cup. 

5 pans (for preparing fruit and vegetables). 

1 covered pan (for syrup). 

4 paring knives. 

2 yards cheese cloth or a wire basket, for blanching products. 
Small jar of salt. 

Tea towels. 

To be supplied by committee for each team : 

2 gasoline or oil stoves (two or three burners). 

2 tables (or one long one) with paper or oilcloth on top. 

1 teakettle. 

1 water pail (with supply of fresh clean water). 

1 garbage can with cover. 

1 pound white granulated sugar. 

Jars enough for products ( with a few extra ) . 

Good can rubbers. 

5 pancake turners (to be bent and used in getting jars out of 

canner ) . 
Fruits and vegetables for canning (as specified). 

No explanation of the cold pack process of canning 
will be given during the contest. The work must show 
for itself. An explanation of club work, cold pack 
process, etc., will be given before the contest starts, and 
the club members will be expected to answer questions 
on their work after the close of the contest. 

9. Census of food preservation. Let each member 
of the class ascertain from each of ten or more families 
the average amount and kind of products stored for 
winter use, such as potatoes, meat, etc., and the method 
of preservation, such as cold storage, pickling, salting, 
drying, canning, etc. Let this information be collected 
on the blackboard and finally recorded in the following 
table : 



PRACTICAL EXERCISES 31 

No. of (Write in names of products (Record amounts 

families and methods of preservation) here) 



10. Outline for studying vegetables. A better crop 
can be produced if the grower knows, before planting 
time, the soil requirements, cultural methods and har- 
vesting possibilities of each vegetable grown in the 
garden. 

The following outline has been prepared for this pur- 
pose. It is important that children fill out a sheet of 
their notebook for each vegetable to be grown. Sub- 
ject matter may be found in seed catalogs published 
by local seed firms, in bulletins published by state ex- 
periment stations, in bulletins published by the United 
States Department of Agriculture, and in any good 
book on vegetable production. Frequent conversations 
with successful gardeners will tend to clear up some of 
the things that are not understood : 

Outline 

Name and variety of the vegetable to be planted. 

Soil requirements. 

Fertilizer requirements. 

Method of propagation — seed, bulb, and tuber. 

Seasons of planting. 



32 GARDEN PROJECT 

Methods of planting. 

1. How far apart are the rows? 

2. How far apart are the plants in the rows? 

. 3. How deep is the seed, tuber, or plant planted? 
4. How many seeds are needed for 100 feet of drill? 
Location of the vegetable in the garden. 

1. Is the vegetable sun-loving in its habits? 

2. Is the vegetable shade-loving in its habits? 

3. Will the vegetable shade or crowd other vegetables? 
Care of the crop. 

1 How often should the crop be cultivated? 

2. What is the required distance between plants for the full 

development of the vegetable? 

3. Does this vegetable need to be transplanted? 

4. Does this vegetable need to be staked? 

5. Does this vegetable need to be blanched? 

6. Does this vegetable need to be sprayed? 

(a) What is the purpose of the spray? 

(b) What is the best spray to use? 

(c) How often should the crop be sprayed? 
Harvesting. 

1. When should this vegetable mature? 

2. How is it prepared for home use? 

3. What is the canning possibility? 

4. Is there a market demand for this vegetable? 

(a) How should it be prepared for market? 

(b) What price should it bring? 

5. What seeds can be selected for next year's crop? 

6. How is the fresh vegetable stored for winter use? 



PART THREE 

VEGETABLE GARDENING 

Factors in locating" the home garden. There are 
several important factors in locating the home garden. 
Convenience to the house is one of them. A southern 
or southeastern slope will give the best results with 
early vegetables. It should not be too steep, however, 
for the crops may then suffer from the drought and 
the heat of summer, and the land be liable to wash. 
It is desirable to have lower ground below the garden 
in order to allow for air and water drainage. If the 
ground is not well drained naturally, it should, of 
course, be tile-drained. In a level country it would 
be well to provide some protection in the way of trees 
or buildings on the northern side. These, however, 
should not be too close to the garden. The kind of 
soil is important. "With most vegetables, sandy loam 
will give the best results. One should not despair, 
however, if he does not have the ideal soil, for most 
of the common vegetables adapt themselves to a wide 
range of soils. Where the slope of the site or the type 
of soil varies appreciably, one should plant the crops 
accordingly. For instance, sweet potatoes should be 
planted on the higher and drier places, and they do 
best in clay loams ; watermelons like a sand ridge ; 
cucumbers and celery prefer the low, damp ground. 

The mechanical preparation of the garden soil. The 
ideal garden soil preparation is to manure and plow 

33 



34 GARDEN PROJECT 

the land in the fall. This practice- will aid in rotting 
the manure and any other organic matter that has been 
turned under. It always helps to destroy injurious in- 
sects, injurious bacteria, and weeds. Furthermore, it 
improves the physical texture of the soil. If the land 
is naturally loose, it need not be plowed again in the 
spring, especially for the early short-season crops. In 
such case, disking or- deep cultivation will be suffi- 
cient. If the land is " tight," or even in the case of 
" loose" textured soil which has become much packed 
during the winter, it is better to plow again in the 
spring. 

The seed bed. The best way to prepare a seed bed 
is as follows : first, disk and harrow ; then plow, disk, 
and harrow, in order, until the ground is thoroughly 
pulverized and properly compacted. A drag should 
be used if necessary to convert the surface to a finely 
pulverized condition. In this connection the compact- 
ing of the soil should be emphasized. Many people fail 
to work the soil sufficiently because they fear it will 
pack the soil too much. This is a mistake, as most 
plants need a somewhat compact soil in order to be 
able to gain a foothold The above method will insure 
a fine pulverization of the soil to the full depth of the 
plowing and a sufficiently compact soil as well. 

Some vegetables cannot be planted until May or June. 
In the case of land to be devoted to such crops a shallow 
mulch should be maintained until planting time. This 
will save the moisture and make the preparation of the 
soil much easier. This fact is very important. 

Fertilizing the garden. For the vegetable garden 
manure is the best general fertilizer. It should be 
applied in the fall and turned under. If, however, it is 
applied in the spring, it is well to have rotted manure. 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 35 

Rotted manure is also sometimes used for top dressing 
purposes for the growing crops. Lime should be used 
every few years, as the large amount of decaying or- 
ganic matter in vegetable lands is constantly causing 
the formation of acids in the soil. Crop refuse, unless 
infected with some serious disease or insect, should 
always be turned under in preference to removing or 
burning it. The garden is a good place upon which to 
burn all trash that accumulates about the yard or farm. 
The ashes add both potassium and lime. Any organic 
matter that will rot easily and quickly should be plowed 
under ; leaves, branches, etc., should be burned and 
the ashes scattered. If manure is scarce, one can grow 
cowpeas, soybeans, or rye to help keep up the supply 
of organic matter. 

Commercial fertilizers can often be used effectively 
in the garden. For nitrogen, sodium nitrate is usually 
the best form. It should be applied as a top dressing 
to the growing plants, using 80 to 100 pounds per acre, 
applied at intervals of from ten days to two weeks. 
The nitrate should be scattered about the plants, care 
being taken that none gets on the leaves. It should be 
cultivated into the soil, and it may also be spread broad- 
cast before or during a rain. The number of applica- 
tions will depend upon the length of the growing sea- 
son of the crop treated. In case of crops which bear 
fruit it is not well to continue the applications of 
sodium nitrate too long, as it may stimulate vine 
growth at the expense of fruit production. Dried 
blood also may be used as a source of nitrogen. Nitro- 
gen in dried blood is not so subject to loss by drainage 
waters as that in sodium nitrate. When this is em- 
ployed, it may be applied in relatively large amounts 
at the beginning of the season, as no injurious results 



36 GARDEN PROJECT 

come from the dried blood as in the case of sodium 
nitrate. 

Steamed bone meal is a good form of phosphorus 
for the vegetable garden. Phosphorus may be sup- 
plied much cheaper by using raw rock phosphate, but 
it must be applied two or three years in advance. The 
use of acid phosphate is more justifiable in vegetable 
growing where quick results are desired than in gen- 
eral farming, though it carries with it some acid. If 
lime is applied every two or three years, it will correct 
any acidity that may accumulate in the soil. 

Sulphate of potassium is a good form of potassium 
to use on a vegetable garden. This element, while 
abundant in most soils, will frequently cause added 
yields, especially in the case of root crops. Wood 
ashes are always an especially good form to use, and 
all the wood ashes which accumulate on the farm 
should be carefully stored away under cover so that 
no leaching will occur. Wood ashes will nowhere give 
better results than in the vegetable garden. Coal ashes 
have no value as a fertilizer, though they can often be 
used effectively in helping to loosen a "tight" soil. 

Laying out the home garden. The laying out of the 
garden will largely depend upon the ease of tending 
and the most profitable use of the land. The vegeta- 
bles should be planted in long rows rather than in 
patches. If not enough of one vegetable is used to 
plant a whole row, two or three kinds can be grown 
in a single row. The planting should be started on 
one side of the garden and should proceed across it 
with the season. It is hard to work up the soil if 
patches are left between beds of growing vegetables. 
The coarser crops that are cultivated with horse tools 
should be grouped together as nearly as possible. The 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 37 

finer crops that are cultivated with wheel hoes should 
also be placed together. The tall growing and the low 
growing crops should be grouped with their kind, so 
far as circumstances will permit.' The vine crops 
should be planted together, as should crops that are 
planted at the same time and which require about the 
same length of season to mature. This will allow for 
the best use of the land for a second crop. The matter 
of succession should not be overlooked. Usually the 
succession crops can be planted where other vegetables 
have been grown earlier in the season. The garden 
properly planned will not only he easy to tend, but 
will facilitate the production of crops throughout the 
growing season. 

Selecting varieties and getting good seed. The selec- 
tion of the proper varieties is one of the most important 
features in vegetable gardening, for no matter how 
well other factors in successful growing are attended 
to, they may come to naught if the wrong varieties are 
selected. It is always best to place the main de- 
pendence upon the standard and proved varieties. 
"Novelties" should be used for trial only until they 
have proved themselves, no matter how enticing they 
may appear in the seed catalogs. One should pay par- 
ticular attention to selecting varieties that are adapted 
to the season in which grown ; for instance, one would 
not want to use the same variety of sweet corn for the 
early crop that he would use for the main season crop. 

Seeds should be purchased from a reliable seedsman, 
one who expects to stay in the business and who has a 
reputation to maintain. 

Early season and late season plants. There is 
perhaps no feature in vegetable gardening regarding 
which more mistakes are made than the time of plant- 



38 GARDEN PROJECT 

ing the various crops. Most people do not realize that 
the thirty or forty common* vegetables which anyone 
could name in a few minutes were brought here from 
all parts of the earth, and that we can only succeed in 
growing them here by furnishing them with relatively 
the same conditions under which they originated and 
developed. Naturally, coming from many widely dif- 
ferent climates, each crop has its special temperature 
and moisture requirements. We recognize this ten- 
dency by growing them during a time of the year best 
suited to their needs, and by planting them in moist 
or dry locations according to their preferences. Hap- 
pily, the thirty or forty different vegetables divide 
themselves into groups according to the temperature 
and moisture requirements, so that instead of it being 
a problem of remembering thirty or forty different 
cultural methods, we may reduce the number to a very 
few by dividing the vegetables into groups. 

All vegetables may be divided into two general 
groups: " cold-season' ' and "warm-season" groups. 
The cold-season crops are those which originated in 
temperate climates, and the warm-season crops are 
those which originated in the tropical and subtropical 
regions. 

Planting table. The following table takes into 
account the seasonal requirements of various garden 
crops and also indicates the varieties that should be 
planted at different times. There are other varieties 
which no doubt could well be added to this list, but 
those named can be depended upon in general to give 
satisfactory account of themselves. By selecting the 
varieties named and planting them as nearly as pos- 
sible at the times mentioned, taking into consideration 
the latitude of the place in which they are grown, the 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



39 



various vegetables can be had at all those times of the 
year when it is possible to have fresh grown vegetables. 

Planting Dates and Varieties Recommended for 
Farmers ' Vegetable Gardens in Illinois 

By C. E. Durst, Associate in Olericulture, University of Illinois. 

Note. — The times for planting named are especially adapted 
for central Illinois; in southern Illinois plant early crops from 
one to two weeks earlier in each case, and in northern Illinois 
about one week later. 



Plant- 




Varieties Suggested for Illinois 


ing 


Crop 


Planting 


Dates 






Peren- 


Asparagus 


Palmetto (Plant one year old roots in 


nial 




early spring) 


Crops 


Rhubarb 


Victoria or Linnaeus (Divide old roots 
and plant in early spring) 




Winter Onions . . 


Egyptian (Replant the sets each year 
about Sept. 1 ) 




Potatoes 


Early Ohio 




Peas 


Alaska (climbing)/ American Wonder 
(dwarf) 










Yellow Bottom 


April 




Southport Yellow Globe, Southport 


1 




White Globe 




Beets 


Crosby's Egyptian 
Early Purple Top Milan 










Chantenay or Half Long 






Hollow Crown or Improved Guernsey 




Parsley . . *. 


Double Curled 






Early Scarlet Turnip, White Strausburg 




Spinach 


Victoria or Long Standing 




Leaf Lettuce. . . . 


Black Seeded Simpson 



April 
10 



Radishes 

Head Lettuce . 

Peas 



White Strausburg 

May King ( Start plants in hot-bed March 

1) 
American Wonder or Gradus (climbing) 



40 



GARDEN PROJECT 



Plant 

ING 

Dates 


Crop 


Varieties Suggested for Illinois 
Planting 


April 
10 


Cabbage 

Cauliflower .... 


Early Jersey Wakefield or Copenhagen 
Market (Start plants in hot-bed March 

1) 
Burpee's Dry Weather (Start plants in 
hot-bed March 1) 


May 

1 


Cabbage 

String Beans. . . 
Sweet Corn 


Early Summer (Start plants in hot-bed 

about March 15) 
Davis White Wax, Stringless Green Pod 
Golden Bantam 
White Cob Cory 
White Evergreen or Country Gentleman 


May 
15 


Tomatoes 

Lima Beans 

Cucumber 

Summer Squash . 
Winter Squash . . 
Watermelons . . . 
Muskmelons .... 
Sweet Corn 


Chalk's Jewel, Stone (Start plants 

March 1 in hot-beds) 
Henderson's Bush, Lima 
White Spine or Henderson's Perfected 
Fordhook, Giant Crookneck 
Hubbard 

Halbert Honey or Kleckley Sweet 
Notted Gem, Hoodo, Osage 
White Evergeen or Country Gentleman 


June 
1 


Pepper 

String Beans. . . . 
Sweet Potato .... 


New York Improved Purple (Start 

plants in hot-bed March 15) 
Chinese Giant, Red Cluster 
Stringless Green Pod, Saddleback Wax 
Yellow Jersey 


June 
15 


Sweet Corn 

Late Potato 

Late Cabbage . . . 
Cucumbers 


White Evergreen or Country Gentleman 

Rural New Yorker 

Flat Dutch, Danish Ball Head 

(for pickles) White Spine 




Celery 


Golden Self Blanching. Giant Pascal 


July 
1 


Beans 


( Start plants in frames about Apr. 1 ) 
Stringless Green Pod, Saddleback Wax 
White Evergreen or Country Gentleman 




Sweet Corn 


July 
25 


Turnips 

Beans 


Red Top Strap Leaf 

Stringless Green Pod, Saddleback Wax 


Aug. 
15 


Winter Radish. . 
Fall Spinach .... 


Chinese White, Long Black Spanish 
Dwarf Siberian 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 41 

Seed sowing. The importance of planting good seed 
can hardly be overestimated. Upon the selection of 
the seed often depends the success or failure of the 
crop. The most important factors determining the 
quality of the seed are viability and truth to name 
and type. Good seed is reasonably free from weed 
seeds and dirt, but the grower should be sure his seed 
is clean before planting it. The best practice is to 
plant fresh seeds, preferably not more than one year 
old. Seeds should be stored in tight bags in cool dry 
places. Successful seed sowing requires a thoroughly 
prepared seed bed, because the more thorough the 
preparation of the seed bed, the less work is required 
to keep the ground in condition during the growing 
season. In the home garden the seeds are usually 
planted by hand by dropping them in the hills or fur- 
rows previously prepared. After planting, the soil 
should be firmed by pressing it down with the back 
of the hoe. For the best and quickest results, seed 
should be planted in freshly prepared ground. 

Advisability of the hot-bed. Hot-beds are practically 
indispensable in the making of a good vegetable gar- 
den. Their greatest use is in starting plants for out- 
door crops. By their help (in the case of some 
vegetables) one can have earlier yields than is possible 
from an outdoor crop, and what is more important he 
can grow some crops which could not be otherwise 
grown (long season crops like eggplants and sweet 
potatoes, etc.). They can also be used for growing 
such crops as lettuce or radishes to full maturity out 
of their season. 

Principles of successful transplanting*. Transplant- 
ing, while it must always be looked upon as more or 
less injurious to the plants, is a necessity in vegetable 



42 GARDEN PROJECT 

gardening. It is used principally for inducing early- 
maturity; it also enables us to grow some crops like 
eggplants which otherwise require too long a season. 
By putting plants in hot-beds or frames, as long as they 
can be so handled without injury, they can later be 
planted in soil which has been freshly worked with the 
assurance of an early yield ; whereas if the seeds were 
planted directly in the open, the young plants would 
have to battle with bad weather and soil conditions at 
the time when they could least endure it. 

The time of planting the seeds will depend altogether 
upon the crop grown. The operations will be facili- 
tated if the seeds are sown in shallow flats, which may 
be carried about as desired. When the plants have be- 
gun to show their first pair of true leaves, they should 
be shifted, which is nothing more or less than taking 
them up from the seed flat and planting them in other 
flats or in pots where they are given greater room. In 
the case of eggplants and head lettuce, which do not 
transplant easily, it is better to handle the plants in 
pots than in flats, for they transplant to the open more 
readily because their root systems are injured less. 
Cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, and 
tomatoes can be very well handled in flats, or they 
may be shifted to the open bed. Onions are sometimes 
started in the hot-bed in order to secure a larger, bulb, 
but they are never shifted. Sweet potatoes are never 
shifted. Beets are often started in greenhouses or hot- 
beds, by market gardeners, to secure an earlier crop 
but they too are never shifted. 

A short time previous to planting in the field, the 
plants should be transferred to a cold frame so that 
they may "harden off." A cold frame is like a hot- 
bed with the exception that it has not bottom heat. 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 43 

"Hardening off" is the term applied to accustoming 
the plants to the open weather conditions so that they 
will not suffer from the transfer to the open. The cold 
frame is covered for the first few nights and is left 
open on all except cool days. Gradually the plants are 
exposed to colder and colder weather, until finally the 
covers are left off altogether for a few days or a week 
previous to transplanting to the field. It should not 
be overlooked that hardening off is an accustoming of 
the plants to both the cold and the relatively dry open 
field conditions. The plants should receive sufficient 
water to keep them from dying, but gradually the 
amount of water applied should be reduced while they 
are in the cold frame, so that finally they will get along 
without the addition of any water. 

It is always desirable to let the soil in the cold 
frame become rather dry for several days before trans- 
planting. This, together with the exposure of the 
plants to cold nights, will harden the tissues and fit 
them for transfer to the open soil. A few hours before 
the actual transplanting, the soil should be heavily 
watered. The plants, being "thirsty," will take up 
enough water to fill their tissues, in which condition 
they will be able to allow more transpiration. The 
plants should not be removed from the frames until 
the soil has become mellow. Puddling the soil by 
working it while wet should always be avoided. As 
large a part of the root system as possible should be 
removed with the plant, and it is well to leave as 
much soil on the roots as will cling. 

In transplanting plants to the field one should firm 
the soil about the roots thoroughly. If a plant is prop- 
erly transplanted, watering in the field is scarcely ever 
necessary, but in the home garden one will insure a 



44 GARDEN PROJECT 

stand if he takes no chances and waters the vegetables. 
When water is applied, it is always best to pour it 
into a basin made about the plant, allowing it to dis- 
appear, and then to cover the wet surface with mellow, 
loose soil. The principal factor in causing the death 
of plants is an excessive transpiration from the leaves. 
The removal of a part of the top of the plant will 
reduce the transpiration and often save it dur- 
ing a dry period. Not all plants can be "sheared," 
but onions, beets, celery, and to a certain extent cab- 
bage, will not suffer. The best implement for trans- 
planting, everything considered, is a pair of human 
hands. Other serviceable tools are the garden trowel, 
the .dibber, and the spade. In commercial gardening, 
a transplanting machine which sets the plants as 
fast as a team of horses draws the machine is often 
used. 

Thinning" vegetables. Plants must have sufficient 
room if they are to develop properly. All excessive 
plants are nothing more than weeds. With many vege- 
table crops the planting is done in such a way as to 
give plenty of room. Cabbage, tomatoes, sweet corn, 
and beans are examples. With most of the small 
seeded crops, however, the seeding is usually liberally 
done on account of the weak embryo and the suscep- 
tibility of the young plants to the weather and soil 
conditions. However, even in such cases the planting 
should be within certain bounds. Market gardeners 
even go so far as to test the seeds in advance and 
plant accordingly, so as to insure a good stand and 
yet prevent overcrowding. In this way little thinning 
is necessary. The vegetables commonly planted in 
drills in the field and which require thinning are beets, 
parsnips, parsley, salsify, and onions. Melons and 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



45 



cucumbers are often planted thickly in the hill and 
thinned when the plants have become well started. 
The thinning of growths which are started on the inside 
and transplanted to the open field is accomplished by 
shifting the plants to other flats or pots, as already 
explained, and setting them in the field, one in a 
place. The thinning of all crops should be done as 
early as the size of the plants will permit. In case of 
onions, since they must be grown to a good size before 
the plants will pull out without breaking off, the thin- 
ning may be delayed somewhat. Thinning of the crops 
insures specimens of larger and more uniform size, and 
a much greater percentage of the product is marketable 
or usable. 

Cultivation. The control of weeds and provision for 
a soil mulch is the most important work in the cultiva- 
tion of the garden. Some people actually doubt that 




8. A Wheel Hoe 



cultivation has much value if -there are no weeds. 
After each rain, as soon as the ground will permit, a 
shallow soil mulch should be made, and the crust 
broken up. 

Garden tools. Every garden should have a wheel 
hoe. It will make gardening a pleasure instead of a 



46 GARDEN PROJECT 

drudgery. There are two kinds : the single wheel is 
used between the rows, the best use of which is in- 
sured when the rOws of vegetables are planted exactly 
parallel; the double wheel hoe, which like the two- 
horse cultivator straddles the row, cultivates both 
sides at once. The latter is a better implement to use 
while the crops are small. Several attachments are 
provided for both types. The hoe blades can be so 
set that they will scrape very close to the row, killing 
weeds and providing a shallow soil mulch. Another 
attachment which comes with the machines is a set 
of cultivator teeth, which dig in deeper, for use when 
the plants are larger. In the home garden it is prob- 
ably not advisable to have a seed drill. This tool, 
while indispensable in planting an area of any con- 
siderable size to fine seed, is not so well adapted to the 
home garden. There is nothing better than the human 
hand for distributing the seeds as they should be, as 
there is nothing which adapts itself more easily to dif- 
ference in thickness of seeding and difference in size 
of seeds. 

Most serious garden pests, (a) Green cabbage 
worm. This worm is the greatest obstacle to cabbage 
growing. Control early in the season is insured with 
arsenical poisons, which are without danger to human 
beings. Some authorities even say that they can be 
used after the plants have begun to head. While this 
view seems reasonable, it is perhaps best to be on the 
safe side and not use poison after the heads begin to 
form. Later on pyrethrum and white bellebore may 
be used. 

(b) Striped cucumber beetle. Control by applying 
Bordeaux mixture and arsenate of lead to the young 
plants as soon as they appear above ground. The 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



47 



plants should be kept covered both under and over 
with this material until they have begun to run. For 
cucumbers or melons the standard Bordeaux mixture 




9. Striped Cucumber Beetle 



is too strong, and a mixture containing half the usual 
amount of copper sulphate should be used. A mixture 
of 5 pounds lime, 2 pounds copper sulphate, and 2 




10. Plant Lice, Winged Type 



pounds lead arsenate, in 50 gallons of water will not 

injure the plants and will effectively control the insect. 

(c) Lice. Melon lice often destroy a melon or cu- 



48 



GARDEN PROJECT 



cumber crop in a few days. This insect may be effect- 
ively controlled by spraying with a solution of nicotine 
sulphate — 40% solution. A solution of one part in 
one-thousand parts of water will produce the desired 
result and will not injure the foliage. The lice live 




11. Plant Lice, Wingless Type 

mainly on the under surfaces of the leaves. As they 
do not chew but rather get their food by sticking their 
beak into the tissue of the plant and drawing out the 
sap, it is necessary to cover their bodies with the ma- 
terial named in order to kill them. Arsenical poisons 
are of no help in controlling this insect. 

The method of applying the spray is as important 
as the material itself. ■ For the best results use a Ver- 
moral nozzle with bent shank, fastened on the end of 
a spraying rod. If the nozzle is worked about and 
between the foliage thoroughly and a fairly high pres- 
sure is maintained, the material will be thrown out in 
a fine spray and practically every insect on the plants 
will be reached. 

(d) Colorado potato beetle. Paris green, or lead 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 49 

arsenate, mixed with a little slaked lime, are the in- 
secticides to use for this pest. 

(e) Flea beetles often cause serious damage to to- 
matoes, eggplants and potatoes. This is a small black 
beetle which jumps from plant to plant when dis- 
turbed. They may be effectively controlled by keep- 
ing the plants covered with Bordeaux mixture and 
arsenate of lead. 

(f ) Cutworms. These often are of serious damage in 
the spring of the year while the ground is still cold; 
therefore it is always well to avoid planting vegetables 
on sod ground if possible. Sometimes manure which 
has laid on a pile during the previous summer provides 
an ideal place for the cutworm moths to lay their eggs, 
and such manure often adds multitudes of cutworm 
eggs to the soil. If the number of plants is not too 
great, the cutworms can be best controlled by uncover- 
ing the earth about the plants which have been at- 
tacked and hunting out the cutworms. Bran mixed 
with molasses and a small amount of Paris green 
placed in small pits on the higher spots of the land 
will often be effective. 

Diseases. The leaf spots and fruit rots so common 
to vegetables are caused by fungus and bacterial dis- 
eases. Some of these cannot be controlled, but most 
of them yield readily to systematic applications of 

Bordeaux mixture. 

# * # 

Small fruits should be included in the garden : straw- 
berries, blackberries, red and black raspberries, goose- 
berries, currants, grapes, etc., but in a course of study 
including so many phases of agriculture, these topics 
cannot be taken up. 

Facts for this chapter were given by Professor C. E. Durst of 
University of Illinois. 



50 GARDEN PROJECT 

Preparing products for market. To sell garden 
products profitably one must know how to make them 
attractive to the purchaser. Products should be clean, 
of proper size, shape, and degree of ripeness. Those 
that are marketed in bunches, baskets or other con- 
tainers should be uniform in these respects. 

Usually there are two grades of products : fancy 
selected, and number one, besides culls. It should be 
borne in mind that number one is the lower grade. 
The fancy selected grade will be of proper size, color, 
degree of ripeness and free from blemishes. A bunch 
or a basket will be uniform in these respects. Size 
should be characteristic of the variety. A beet the 
size of one's head would not be graded as fancy se- 
lected. Color and shape are other characteristics 
which should be considered in connection with the dif- 
ferent varieties of products. The degree of ripeness 
at which the products are to be packed for market will 
depend upon the distance to market. Some products 
which are to be shipped some distance will be picked 
green. 

In grading products it may be well to use a typical 
specimen as a sample and compare others with it. The 
following description* of the grades of tomatoes may 
serve to make this point of grading clear. Fancy se- 
lected tomatoes are sound, smooth, regular in shape, 
free from cracks, and of such size that twelve speci- 
mens will fill one basket of a flat or a four basket crate. 
Number one grade is composed of sound specimens, 
slightly inferior to the fancy selected grade in size 
and smoothness, or with slight cracks about the stem 
which may have healed over so that there is no danger 



*Lloyd — Productive Vegetable Gardening. 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



51 



< 

w 
ca 

M 
H 
(** 

a 
W 

M 

w 

H 

H 




52 GARDEN PROJECT 

of leaking. Culls are badly cracked, rough, over-ripe 
or under-sized specimens. Tomatoes which are smaller 
than twenty to the basket would be regarded as culls. 
Products which are to be bunched may be first 
graded and then washed after bunching. This makes 
handling easier. All root crops, early in the season, 
are bunched. Radishes (except the winter type) are 
bunched at all seasons. In this class are green onions, 
asparagus, rhubarb, kohlrabi, parsley, leeks, celery and 
sometimes leaf lettuce. String, raffia and tape are used 
in tying. Rubber bands are often used for asparagus. 
The size of the bunch will depend upon the product. 
Bunches of radishes may contain five or six or ten or 
twelve depending upon size. As a novelty, white and 
scarlet radishes may be arranged in the same bunch. 
Asparagus bunches should be about eight inches in 
length and of such circumference that the hand will 
go about two-thirds of the way around. 

Bunches of onions will appear to better advantage 
if the tops are trimmed off. The tops of all small beets 
and carrots (in size about forty to the quart) should 
be left on. Later in the season larger specimens may 
be marketed in bulk with the tops removed. 

The importance of uniformity in the appearance of 
such products may be demonstrated by comparing two 
bunches, one of which contains specimens uniform in 
all respects and the other, products of all sizes, colors, 
shapes, and degrees of ripeness. 

Preparing and arranging an exhibit. The first im- 
pression of an exhibit cannot but have an effect upon 
the judge or visitor. There are three factors aside 
from the individual excellence of products which de- 
termine the quality of an exhibit: cleanliness of prod- 
nets, uniformity, and arrangement. What has been 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 53 

said in regard to the selection and preparation of 
products for market would apply in the case of their 
preparation for exhibition. 

The exhibits of a garden and canning club might be 
placed on two shelves and a vertical surface. The 
lower shelf, the larger of the two, placed about the 
distance of a table top from the floor, is slightly in- 
clined and contains the fresh products. The upper 
.shelf, placed about two or three feet above the lower 
shelf, contains the canned products. On the wall be- 
hind this or on the vertical surface of boards which 
might be built up if the display is in the center of a' 
room are placed the record books and decorated club 
booklets. Larger vegetables, like cabbages, cauliflower, 
melons, cucumbers, squash, etc., are placed at the back 
of the first shelf and the smaller products in front. 
Four tomatoes placed on a paper or china plate (or 
tAvelve tomatoes placed in a square basket) may con- 
stitute an exhibit. All wilted or torn leaves should 
be removed from a cabbage or cauliflower. Beans may 
be exhibited in peck measures. The uniformity idea 
may be carried out in a canning exhibit by using glass 
jars of the same type. 

Saving perishable foods. Do you recall the fable of 
the Grasshopper and the Ant : how the former played 
all summer while the latter toiled to store up food for 
the winter? Do you remember what happened when 
winter came; how the grasshopper was forced to beg 
food of the provident ant? There are grasshoppers 
and ants among men as well as animals. 

In the tropics, Nature has been kind to man and has 
given him an almost perpetual food supply. But in our 
latitude "we never get something for nothing." How 
many great men can you name who were born in the 



54 GARDEN PROJECT 

tropics? Such a climate generally makes men indolent 
and lazy. 

In the temperate zones, however, the earth produces 
food only a portion of the year. During the remainder 
of the year, man must live upon food which he has 
preserved or stored. One of the great advances in 
civilization was made when man domesticated some of 
the wild animals and could thus preserve food in the 
live state. Animal food may be preserved this way* 
but other methods are necessary for the preservation 
of food plants during the winter months. 

Why foods spoil. "Why are special measures neces- 
sary to preserve foods? What makes them spoil? 
There are three families of plants which grow in living 
or dead material, in about the same way that other 
plants grow in the soil. These are yeasts, molds and 
bacteria. You are familiar with members of all three 
of these families. Yeast is used in making bread. Per- 
haps you did not know that it was a plant and that 
its growth is what makes bread rise. Mold you will 
recognize as the grayish, cob-web material you find on 
bread if kept in a warm, moist place. Bacteria makes 
you think of diseases. Perhaps some of you have 
had the opportunity to look through a microscope at 
some wriggling, squirming objects which were called 
bacteria. 

Bacteria like people. Bacteria are like people ; they 
may be either good or bad. Were it not for bacteria 
the clover plant could not get its nitrogen from the 
air. What finer example of neighborliness do we have 
than the clover plant and the tiny "bacteria" plants 
living together, one helping the other? Perhaps you 
did not know that all plants with which we are familiar 
aro- dependent upon bacteria for food. When a farmer 



VEGETABLE GAE.DENING 



00 



plows under a crop of corn or a dressing of farm 
manure, we know that it decays, that is, breaks up 
into simpler compounds, goes into solution in the soil 
water and is taken into the plant. All of this is made 
possible by bacteria. But let us bring the fact of the 
value of bacteria still closer home. When you eat your 
dinner, the food is digested in your stomach and intes- 
tines ; part of this digestion is carried on by juices 
secreted there, but part of this work is carried on by 
bacteria. 

Let us remember then that there are good and bad 
bacteria. Bacteria that cause disease are bad; bac- 
teria which cause decay in the soil are good, as are 
those which help digest our food. 

These little plants do not ask where they may grow. 
If we leave meat, vegetables, milk or other food ex- 
posed to the air, they will start operations. 

The protection of food. How then may we protect 
our food from these plants ? Like all other plants, 
they must have proper temperature, moisture, oxygen 
in some cases, and a suitable place in which to grow. 
The methods of food preservation depend upon inter- 
fering with one or more of these essential conditions 
to their growth. The following practical suggestions 
are given by McConn* for preventing the growth of 
molds. 

1. Keep all food fairly dry. 

2. Expose as much as possible to the light. 

3. Lower the temperature. 

Yeasts grow in food products in which the sugar con- 
tent is not too high, if kept in a warm place. The 
spoiling of food products due to the action of yeast is 



*Yeasts, Molds and Bacteria. 



56 GARDEN PROJECT 

called fermentation. Preserves containing a high per- 
centage of sugar do not ferment. 

Bacteria a serious menace. Bacteria are more seri- 
ous enemies than yeasts or molds. As has been men- 
tioned, they are the friend of the farmer as well as of 
the dairyman. To them is due the flavor of butter and 
cheese. The housewife, however, must wage a con- 
tinuous battle with them in preserving food stuffs. 

One of the most wonderful things about bacteria is 
their power of reproduction. It is estimated that they 
reproduce themselves every half hour. At this rate, a 
single bacterium would result in the production of 
17,000,000 in twelve hours. Most plants reproduce by 
means of seeds but bacteria reproduce by means of 
spores. All bacteria are killed by prolonged heating, 
although some species produce spores which are re- 
sistant to almost all temperatures. 

Bacteria will not grow at freezing temperature or 
below nor usually at a boiling temperature though 
some species grow at 140° F. Most bacteria grow best 
between 70° F. and 90° F. The exact temperature at 
which they are killed varies with the species. What 
makes the bacteria difficult to kill is the fact that there 
are two forms, the spore form and the vegetable form. 
The spore form will often resist a temperature as high 
as boiling water. Only higher temperatures or pro- 
longed boiling will kill some spores. 

Bacteria require darkness, moisture (25-30%) and 
heat for best growth. Molds will grow upon acid sub- 
stances but bacteria will not. This explains why fruit 
preserves are not attacked by bacteria. Like animals, 
bacteria require food containing sugars, starches, and 
protein. 

What are ptomaines? Bacteria not only destroy 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 57 

food but also form certain products which are poi- 
sonous. We call these ptomaines. Contrary to popu- 
lar conception, ptomaines do not necessarily come from 
tin cans. They are produced by the action of bacteria 
on food and are probably the secretions of the bacteria. 

All of this information about bacteria has been ac- 
quired by man very gradually. He soon learned to dry 
foods and by removing the water, to starve the bacteria, 
yeasts and molds. The Indians used this method in 
preserving buffalo and deer meat. Salting and pickling 
are effective methods of food preservation also. The 
use of drying has been developed to such an extent 
that now milk is evaporated and kept for some time 
this way. 

Keeping foods cool. The spring house, cool cellar 
or family ice box is a short time cold storage plant 
where preservation is a matter of days. In the city 
cold storage warehouse food products can be kept for 
months. 

The following rules should be observed in the house- 
hold in preserving foods by this method : 

1. Cool the food as quickly as possible. This should 
be done before covering and setting aside for keeping. 

2. Use every possible device for avoiding moisture. 

3. Use food quickly after taking it from its place of 
storing, for such food when warmed decays rapidly. 

Canning a safe method. Preservatives are often 
used by commercial firms and even in households to 
preserve food. The use of such chemicals is dangerous 
and unnecessary. Food products may be canned and 
kept in perfect condition without their use. 

Canning is comparatively a new method of food 
preservation. During the Napoleonic Wars, the great 
Napoleon, originator of that famous expression "An 



58 GARDEN PROJECT 

army travels on its stomach," offered a prize for a 
method of preserving fruit and vegetables. Thereupon 
a Frenchman discovered "canning." 

From a modest beginning canning has grown until 
now there are five methods known and in use, namely : 

1. The open kettle or hot pack method. 

2. The intermittent, or fractional sterilization 

method. 

3. The cold water method. 

4. The vacuum seal method. 

5. The cold pack, single period method. 

The open kettle process. In the open kettle process, 
the product is cooked in an open kettle, then poured 
into a sterilized container and sealed up. Fruits may 
be canned by this process but products readily at- 
tacked by bacteria cannot be preserved in this way. 
This is due to the fact that some air containing spores 
is carried in as the product is poured into the jar; 
another objection to this method is the overcooking of 
products and the resulting loss of flavor. 

The intermittent method. To overcome these ob- 
jections the fractional or intermittent sterilization 
method was devised. In this method the products 
were cooked in the jars or cans. It was thought neces- 
sary to repeat this operation on three successive days, 
sealing the jars up after each boiling ; hence the name 
intermittent. By this method all of the spores which 
escaped the first boilings were eventually killed. The 
objections to this method were its expenditure of fuel, 
time and labor. 

Cold water method. The cold water method suc- 
ceeds quite well with such products as rhubarb and 
gooseberries. The jars are filled with the products 
and cold water and then sealed under water to pre- 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



59 



vent the entrance of air. Products canned in this 
way require subsequent cooking and are apt to be 
" water-logged." The vacuum seal is a "short cut" 
cold pack method and requires special equipment. By 
exhausting the air in a jar by a special pump, the time 
required to sterilize its contents is decreased. 

The cold pack method. The cold pack method used 
in canning factories is a marked improvement over the 




13. A Canning Club 



first three methods. All products, except soft fruits, 
are subjected to a preliminary blanch or scald in boil- 
ing water or live steam and then a dip in cold water. 
This so-called "hot and cold dip" loosens skin, brings 
out color, firms the texture, removes objectionable 
acids and probably helps to make unnecessary the three 



60 GARDEN PROJECT 

sterilizations of the intermittent or " three day" 
method. In the case of greens or " pot-herbs" it 
shrinks them and makes packing easier. The duration 
of the hot dip varies with different products. After 
this treatment, the products are packed in glass jars 
or tin cans and boiling syrup or water is added, de- 
pending upon whether fruit or vegetables are being 
canned. Eubbers and tops are put on glass jars and 
the latter screwed down, but not tight. Tin cans are 
sealed completely. The jars or cans are then immersed 
in boiling water or placed in an atmosphere of steam 
at a definite pressure. The time they are left in de- 
pends upon the product and the temperature. It takes 
less time to sterilize food products under five pounds 
of steam pressure than in boiling water and still less 
time under twenty pounds of steam pressure. 

Canning outfits may be purchased, but it is possible 
to make a simple one which will do just as good work. 
A wash boiler, fifty pound lard tin, water bucket, in 
fact anything in which water can be boiled and to 
which a cover may be fitted, will do. A false bottom 
of wood or metal which will lift the jars from the bot- 
tom and permit the water to circulate under, around, 
and among the jars completes the outfit. If it be pro- 
vided with handles and a guard rail, jars may be lifted 
in and out more easily. 

Full directions for canning different products, mak- 
ing syrup, etc., as well as descriptions of different types 
of canning outfits may be obtained by requesting from 
the state club leader or the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C, the NR series of canning 
bulletins. 



APPENDIX 
A MODEL CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 1 

CONSTITUTION 

Article I. The name of this organization shall be the 

Club, 

(School, township, county, etc.) 
Article II. The object of this club is to increase the agricultural, 

educational, and social advantages of 

(Name of geographical unit) 
through home projects, entertainments, lectures, fairs, ex- 
hibits, etc. 
Article III. All boys and girls living in 

(Geographical unit) 
between the ages of 10 and 18 years shall be eligible for 

membership. 
Article IV. Sec. 1. The officers of this club shall consist of a 

president, a vice-president, a secretary, and a treasurer. 
Sec. 2. A majority vote shall constitute an election. 
Article V. Roberts' Rules of Order shall govern the meetings of 

the club. 
Article VI. The order of business for all regular meetings shall 

be as follows: 

1. Call to order. 

2. Roll call. 

3. Reading of minutes of last meeting. 

4. Addition or corrections to the minutes. 

5. Reports of committees. 

6. Old business. 

7. New business. 

8. Considering new names for membership. 

9. Literary program. 

10. Recreation or refreshments. 

11. Adjournment. 

Credit is due Mr. E. C. Lindemann, State Club Leader of 
Michigan, for this material. 

61 



62 GARDEN PROJECT 

Article VII. Committees for special purposes may be appointed 
by the president at any time. 

BY-LAWS 

Article I. The club motto shall be "To make the BEST, BET- 
T E R," and the club emblem shall be a four-leaf clover bear- 
ing an H on each leaf. 

Article II. The officers shall be elected by ballot at the annual 

election in of each year. 

(Month) 
Article III. The regular meeting of the club shall take place 

at on the 

(Name of building) (Day of the month) 
Article IV. Sec. 1. A quorum shall consist of 

(Usually two-thirds) 
of the membership of the club. 

Sec. 2. This constitution may be amended by a vote of 

of the members present at any regular meeting. 

(Usually two-thirds) 

PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE: HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 

a. Always address the president as Mr. or Miss President. 

b. All remarks should be addressed to the president. 

c. There should be no talking between members. 

d. The president should recognize the person who seeks the 
floor by saying: "Mr. or Miss " 

(Person's name) 

e. This indicates that the person thus recognized has the 

privilege of speaking ('of the floor) and must not be interrupted. 

/. The only interruptions allowable are ( 1 ) a call for a point 
of order, or (2) a question. 

g. A point of order applies to a member who has made a 
motion which is out of order because of another motion before 
the meeting, or to a member whose remarks are not on the sub- 
ject under consideration, or to a person who is exceeding the time 
limit for discussion, etc. A point of order is executed as follows: 

Member rising while another is speaking: "Mr. President, I 
rise to a point of order." 

The president will then recognize the speaker as follows: "Mr. 
, please state your point of order." 

Member who has interrupted 'speaker: "Mr. President, the 

speaker, Mr is out of order because his 

(Interrupted member's name) 
remarks are not on the subject under consideration (or is out of 

order because there is another motion before the meeting)." 



APPENDIX 63 

President: "The chair decides that the point is (or is not) 
well taken." 

Whereupon the interrupted speaker takes his seat or makes an 
appeal from the decision of the chair as follows: 

Interrupted speaker: "Mr. President, I appeal from the deci- 
sion of the chair." 

President: "Mr appeals from the decision 

of the chair. As many as are in favor of sustaining the deci- 
sion of the chair will make manifest by saying 'Aye;' contrary- 
minded, 'No.' " 

The motion is (or is not) carried. 

If the motion is carried, and the decision of the chair is thus 
sustained, the interrupted speaker has no further recourse and 
must take his seat. If, however, the motion is lost and the deci- 
sion of the chair is not sustained, the speaker may continue to 
speak. 

Question. The speaker may be interrupted by any member for 
the purpose of asking a question. This question may be one of 
personal privilege or may be for the purpose of gaining informa- 
tion about the subject under discussion. The execution of this 
motion may proceed as follows: 

Member taking floor while another member is speaking: "Mr. 
President, I rise to a question of information." 

Presiding officer: "State your question." 

Member : "Do I understand the speaker to mean that 

etc?" 

The speaker then proceeds to give the information desired, and 
the meeting then proceeds. 

In case of a question of personal privilege the process is as 
follows: 

Member, rising and interrupting speaker: "Mr. President, I 
rise to a question of personal privilege." 

Presiding officer: "State your question." 

Member: "Mr. President, this room is too warm for comfort, 
and I therefore ask to have the windows opened." 

In either case the presiding officer may rule for or against the 
person asking the question. 



64 GARDEN PROJECT 



GARDEN RULES 

Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Education' 

Washington, D. C. 

1. Location. The vegetable garden should be located where 
the plants will receive sufficient sunlight and air. 

2. Soil. The soil should be deep, rich, mellow, and well 
drained. 

3. Seeds. Only the best vegetable seeds, purchased from reli- 
able seedsmen, should be planted. 

4. Plants. All vegetable plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, to- 
matoes, pepper, and eggplant, etc., should be grown, not purchased. 

5. Fertilizer. Make three applications of commercial ferti- 
lizer at intervals during the growing season, rather than one 
application of the entire amount. 

6. Cultivation. The soil between the rows should be kept 
well hoed. The garden should be free of weeds. 

7. Intensive gardening. Use every square foot of garden 
space. Plant companion crops whenever possible. As soon as 
one crop is harvested, plant another. Eliminate all paths and 
weeds. 

8. Harvesting. Allow no vegetable to go to waste. Can or 
sell what cannot be used fresh by the family. 

9. Seasons. Practice all-year-round gardening. 

10. Records. Accurate records of expenditures and receipts 
should be kept, as well as the dates of planting and of harvesting 
each crop. 

RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING COMPANION 

AND SUCCESSION CROPS FOR THE 

HOME GARDEN 

Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Education 

Washington, D. C. 

I. Never choose vegetables belonging to the same plant family 
for either a companion or a succession crop. 



APPENDIX 65 

The mustard family includes cabbage, cauliflower, collard, 
Brussels sprouts, kale, radish, turnip, and kohlrabi. 
The goose foot family includes beet, Swiss chard, and 
spinach. 

The parsley family includes carrot, celery, parsley, and 
parsnip. 

The nightshade family includes Irish potato, tomato, 
eggplant, and pepper. 

The gourd family includes squash, pumpkin, melon, cu- 
cumber, and watermelon. 

2. Follow the quickly maturing crops of the earliest planting, 
such as garden peas, spinach, lettuce, and mustard, with the 
main crops of the second planting season, such as tomato, okra, 
pepper, and cucumber. 

3. Follow the slowly maturing crops of the earliest planting, 
such as Irish potato and cabbage, with the midsummer planting 
of late corn, late tomato, late Irish potato, cowpeas, carrots, and 
beans. 

4. Follow the crops of the second planting season, for ex- 
ample, early tomato, with the earliest fall planting season of 
endive, lettuce, and beets. 

5. Between the rows of tall growing vegetable plants, for 
example, corn, plant a companion crop of any of the gourd 
family or any low-growing plant, the leaves of which are used 
for food. 

6. Plant slowly maturing tall-growing vegetables between 
rows of quickly maturing, low-growing vegetables, for example, 
tomatoes between rows of carrots. 

7. Choose a succession crop that will require the same amount 
of space as the crop just harvested, or plan the garden so that 
one row of Irish potatoes, for example, may follow two rows of 
lettuce. • 

8. The entire vegetable garden should be deeply spaded and 
well fertilized before the planting of the earliest crops in the 
spring. 

LIST OF HOME GARDENING PUBLICATIONS 

The following publications have been prepared to assist teachers 
who are conducting school-home gardening. They may be obtained 
by applying to the United States Bureau of Education. 
Circulars 

1. Instruction for school supervised home gardens. 

2. A course in vegetable gardening for teachers. 



66 GARDEN PROJECT 

3. The winter vegetable garden. 

4. Organic matter for the home garden. 

5. Hot-beds and cold frames for home gardens. 

6. Raising vegetable plants from seed. 

7. How to make the garden soil more productive. 

8. Planting the garden. 

9. Part played by the leaf in the production of a crop. 

10. A suggestive schedule for home garden work in the South. 

11. List of publications for the use of school-home garden 

teachers. 

12. School-home garden results of 1916. 

13. Garden projects in seed planting. 

14. Flower growing for school children in the elementary 

grades. 

15. Part played by the roots in the production of a crop. 

16. Home gardening for town children. 

Chapter 15. Commissioner of Education. Report for 1916. 

(Reprinted.) 
Daily Record Books of boys' and girls' home gardens. 
Letters 

1. The home garden; its economic value and its relation to 

the school in towns and cities. 

2. Summary of recommendations of the United States Bureau 

of Education concerning school and home gardening. 

3. Outline for studying vegetables. 

4. List of home gardening circulars and letters. 

5. Outline for home work in school-directed home gardens in 

the South. 
Bulletin 

1916. No. 40. Gardening in elementary city schools. 

SOME GARDEN BOOKS 

Productive Vegetable Gardening — Lloyd. 
Market Gardening — Yeaw. 
Manual of Gardening — Bailey. 
School Gardens — Hood. 



The Project Notebook 



VEGETABLE GARDENING AND CANNING 



Year, 

Name 

Address 



Name of Club 

School Dist. No 

Teacher 

Club Leader 



The student is urged to answer all questions, describe 
all operations called for in the monthly calendar, and 
make all records in the proper place in this notebook. 



68 The Plan of the Garden 

Make the plan of your garden drawn to scale on this page. 
Draw first with pencil, and at the end of the season retrace the 
lines with ink. 



Expenses 
record of work 



69 



Keep a record of all time spent at work in the garden. Begin 
this record with preparation of seed bed and include time spent 
in gathering products. 

If only a few minutes are spent in the garden at a time, make 
record in fracticn of hour. 





Kind of Work 


Hours 


Value of Time 


Date 


Value 

per 
Hour 


Total 






































































































































• 




























































Total carried forward 























70 



Expenses 
record of work 





Kind of Work 


Hours 


Value of Time 


Bate 


Value 

per 
Hour 


Total 




































































































































































■ 

































































Expenses 
record of work 



71 





Kind of Work 


Hours 


Value of Time 


Date 


Value 

per 
Hour 


Total 



































































































































































































































72 



Expenses 
record of work 





Kind of Work 


Hours 


Value of Time 


Date 


Value 

per 
Hour 


Total 





















* 































































































































































• 















































SUPPLIES 



73 



Record should be made here of all seeds and plants purchased 
for the garden- -also tools, stakes, spraying mixtures, fertilizers, 
etc. 

Charge § of the cost of all permanent equipment. 

Rent of garden plat shall be estimated at 5% on a fair selling 
valuation per acre. This item shall be counted in with expense 
even if no direct rent is paid. 



Date 


Article 


Cost 



































































































































Rent 

Size of my garden sq. ft. or 

Estimated rent for 1 acre $ 

Estimated rent for my garden $ 



rods 



74 



Receipts 
fresh vegetables used at home 



Record shall be made here of all fresh vegetables from garden 
used at home and also vegetables given away. 

The local club leader will determine method of weight or meas- 
ure and also price of vegetables. 

Where there is no club leader, cost of products will be deter- 
mined by that in local markets. ■ 



Date 



Kind of Vegetable 



Quantity 



Value 



Receipts 
fresh vegetables used at home 



75 



Date 



Kind of Vegetable 



Quantity 



Value 



76 



Receipts 
fresh vegetables used at home 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 



































































































































































Receipts 
fresh vegetables used at home 



77 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 



































































































































































78 



FRESH VEGETABLES SOLD 



When vegetables are sold outside the home, careful measure 
should be made .and record kept of quantity sold and money- 
received. 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 

























































































































































FRESH VEGETABLES SOLD 



79 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 




































- 








































- 































































































80 


FRESH VEGETABLES SOLD 




Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 




















* 
























































• 































































































FRESH VEGETABLES SOLD 



81 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 











































































































































































82 



FRESH VEGETABLES SOLD 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 









































































































































































FRESH VEGETABLES SOLD 




83 


Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quantity 


Value 











































































































































































84 



VEGETABLES CANNED FOR HOME USE 



With the exception of such vegetables as radishes and lettuce, 
all others not used as fresh vegetables should be canned. Value 
of vegetables for home use shall be determined by market value 
of such product. 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quarts 


Value 


















! 








































- - 

































































































VEGETABLES CANNED FOR HOME USE 



85 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quarts 


Value 






























































































































































• 









86 



VEGETABLES CANNED FOR MARKET 



Vegetables may be canned for market in either glass jars or tin 
cans. 4-H brand labels may be purchased by members who can 
products according to government instructions. 

Keep record of canned vegetables sold here. 



Date 



Kind of Vegetable 



Quarts 



Value 



VEGETABLES CANNED FOR MARKET 



87 



Date 


Kind of Vegetable 


Quarts 


Value 









































































































































































'.' 



88 



Summary 



expenses 

Hired Labor @ 17c per hour 

Horse Labor @ 10c per hour 

Supplies 

Rent 

Total Expenses 



RECEIPTS 



$. 



Vegetables Sold 

Vegetabes Used at Home 

Vegetables Canned for Home and 

Market 

Equipment on Hand 

Total Receipts 

(Subtract) Expense $ 

Labor Income 

(Subtract) Labor at 10c per hour 

Profit or Loss $ 

Profit per 100 sq. ft 

or Profit per 1 sq. rd 



$. 



If your state has a different form for recording the Garden 
and Canning Project, to be sent to the state loader, it may be 
made out from the records and data here kept by the pupil. The 
Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C, has issued a very excel- 
lent Daily Record Book for Boys' and Girls' Home Gardens. 



Miscellaneous Notes and Records 89 



90 Miscellaneous Notes and Records 



Miscellaneous Notes and Records 91 



92 My Experience in Gardening 



My Experience in Gardening 93 



94 



My Experience in Gardening 



Garden Visitors 



95 



The club leader shall sign here each time a visit is made to your 
garden. 

Other friends who visit the garden may also sign their names 
here. 



Date 


Name 


Remarks 





















































































































96 


Garden Visitors 




Date 


Name 


Remarks 




























































































































- 





